The Korean street food brand, which is owned by Maguro Group, will open its 12th site, at Manchester’s Trafford Centre, tomorrow (20 May), its second in the city.
It will be located within The Orient food court within the shopping centre, building on the success of its Piccadilly Gardens restaurant, which opened in 2023.
The new site will follow the opening of Bunsik’s 11th restaurant in Brixton last week, the brand’s first South London location as well as its first franchised site within London. The Brixton site is led by franchise operator CMB Hospitality, headed up by Vicente Marti, and is described as being ‘a significant milestone within Bunsik’s wider franchise expansion strategy’.
“Bunsik stood out to us straight away as a brand with huge growth potential,” says Marti.
“The product is strong, the customer demand is already proven, and Jae and the wider Maguro Group team bring a huge amount of operational experience to the business. As franchise partners, we have real confidence in the brand and while Brixton felt like the right location for our first site thanks to its energy, footfall and strong food culture.”
Led by founder Jae Cho and backed by the wider Maguro Group, Bunsik made its debut in London in 2021 and has expanded across the capital and regional cities through its fast-casual model that targets high-volume footfall areas.
The brand says it will continue to build momentum across London and key regional cities, with future expansion expected to focus primarily on franchise-led growth as the brand continues to scale across the UK.
“Opening our 11th and 12th Bunsik locations is a major milestone for the brand and reflects the continued demand we’re seeing for Korean street food across the UK,” says Cho.
“Following the continued success of our existing Manchester site in Piccadilly Gardens, expanding further into Greater Manchester with Trafford Centre felt like a natural next step, while Brixton gives us an exciting opportunity to bring Bunsik to a new part of London with a fantastic food culture and energy.”